Review: Curse of Chucky (2013)

Brad Dourif, or you might recognize him as the voice of Chucky; or Wormtongue from Lord of the Rings

Simply put, it was a pleasing film and indeed, very good. Don Mancini wrote and directed the previous film (Seed of Chucky, ’04) but has written all the previous films. The last film was awful and such a joke. The Gorehound wouldn’t tolerate any of it during the month of October. But Mancini adds some credibility to this new entry that has 9year gap between the Seed. 9 years is a pretty long and frankly, the previous two reboots I remember (Hellraiser and Nightmare on Elm Street) have been abominable! The original voice of Chucky returns in this entry, Brad Dourif, and quite an interesting side note is that the main character is the daughter of Brad Dourif, Fiona Dourif. Knowing this before hand I felt as if there as familial connection.

What I love about the previous films is the language and the irony. Chucky is a doll that is supposed to promote good values, he is a Good Guy but he uses harsh and violent language. I don’t care if I don’t completely understand irony, but from what I understand, Chucky is ironic. I’m no literary genius or grammar Nazi, I’m simply a 25 year old gorehound who believes a drink and horror movie are the best way to end a night. If you want to argue grammar, get out of this blog!

For those of you unfamiliar, Chucky originates from the 1988 flick, Child’s Play. It introduces Chucky, who has the soul of murderer Charles Lee Ray trapped inside of him. For Ray to escape this doll and “reincarnate” himself, he must conduct a ritual where he transfers his body into the body of child. He never quite succeeds and in the end, pretty much traps himself inside this doll. Through the next few years, we see Chucky try to enter the body of other children (Child’s Play 2, ’90, and Child’s Play 3, ’91), get married (Bride of Chucky, ’98), and have a hideous abomination of a child (Seed of Chucky, ’04). The series is fantastic, all except the Seed.

The Curse of Chucky was original. It was different from all the previous entries and worked well. We got to see some back story from Charles Lee Ray that actually fit in. This film connected elements of the past and proposed elements to the future. The plot involves a daughter receiving this Good Guy doll and later that night, her mother is killed by what is beleived to be overmedication. The daughters’ sister comes in with the whole group of characters: hot teenager who is having an affair with everyone, the antagonist sister, the flirty husband, and daughter. I really appreciate exaggeration, especially in characters. I believe that it’s a pretty simple formula for success in movies when stereotypes are fulfilled and antagonists oppose everything the protagonists do. It’s really simple but quite successful in the Gorehound’s cinema. Anyways, the group intermingles, the doll get’s loose, and the story is in pursuit!

My biggest and utmost annoyance was Chucky. He looked off, like they used a poor replicate. The voice was there, the knife was there, and the attitude was there but quite simply, the actual doll was awful. I don’t know why they didn’t use the original but it detracted my attention every time. His curses and language weren’t as harsh as the previous entries. It may be because many movies today are just as violent as those in the Child’s Play series in the 80/90s. There wasn’t a lot of originality in the script. Chucky really had no motive in the beginning the film for doing whatever he was doing. Yes, we know from previous entries that he wants to enter a human body and is pretty psychotic but for the first 45 minutes, he doesn’t really speak. I don’t like that. Honestly, I want to see Chucky slice-and-dice in the first 5 minutes.

Adding Jennifer Tilly to the end really solidified this as a legitimate entry. That bridged the 9 year gap. Despite some (like I said) piss poor doll aesthetics, this movie did well. In particular, I appreciated the original voice and writer, an isolated environment (a single house), and plenty of homages and references to the series. I actually do hope to see more films like this because (1) it had some good clean violence, no rape, incest, or otherwise torturous art, (2) good built up suspense, and (3) takes great effort and skill to acknowledge the classic preceding entries. If you haven’t seen the first 4, go rent those before you see this one, but if your familiar with previous, go ahead, I give you permission to experience the Curse of Chucky. 4/5

P.S. This movie was released to DVD on September 24th, making it the quickest turnaround for a movie review, 21 days.